


Is This Your Life Sam Winchester?

by Jld71



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Death, Gen, Hallucinations, Hurt Sam Winchester, Poisoning, Temporary Character Death, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-15 19:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17535083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jld71/pseuds/Jld71
Summary: Sam and Dean are on a routine hunt. Which, for them means anything but routine. In the process of trying to take out Djinn, Sam is infected with its poison.





	Is This Your Life Sam Winchester?

**Author's Note:**

> Do Not Re-Post Without My Written Permission - Only To Be Posted On My AO3 Or LiveJournal Accounts.
> 
> Author: jdl71  
> Artist: small_scale_majestic  
> Beta: cillab42  
> Written for: Sam Winchester Big Bang Challenge  
> Link to art: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/small-scale-majestic/swbb-25jan2019

 

Is Your Life Sam Winchester?

 

Dean gunned the engine on the Impala, giving it more gas as they tore up the highway on the way to their next hunt. They were after another Djinn. He wasn’t exactly thrilled to be on the hunt of one of these sons of bitches, but it wasn’t like they had a say in what they hunted. It just needed to be dealt with and put down.

Sam winced at the sound of the engine; he knew something wasn’t right with Dean. He would never treat his Baby the way he was if he wasn’t on edge. Sam turned slightly in his seat to look at Dean. He could feel the tension coming off of Dean in waves. He saw the hard line of Dean’s jaw and his own jaw ached from it. He watched as Dean tore his eyes away from the road to glance at him, his lips set in a thin line. 

“Alright, you know the drill. Don’t let it touch you.” Dean turned his attention back to the road and listened as Sam answered him.

“I know,” Sam muttered, not hiding the annoyance in his voice.

“You gotta dip the silver blade in Lamb’s blood,” Dean said, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Dean, I know,” Sam said as he rolled his eyes. When the hell was Dean going to let up on this whole ‘I must protect my little brother’ crap? “It’s not like it’s my first time hunting or killing one,” he huffed out in annoyance. 

Dean shot Sam a sideways glare. Yeah, Sam had killed a Djinn, had actually bashed the things skull in with a golf club. That had actually been impressive to watch. Sam was usually the one who wanted to reason with the thing, then if that didn’t work, he wanted to put it down humanely. Dean snickered at that thought, as if there was ever a way to reason with the monsters they fought, let alone put them down humanely. They were monsters.

“What?” Sam asked as he raised his eyebrows in curiosity. What had Dean found so funny? 

“Nothing,” Dean muttered, shooting Sam a quick glance before eyeing the road again. 

“Whatever,” Sam muttered back with a huff. 

“Another thirty minutes and we should be rolling up on the thing’s lair.”

Sam smirked at Dean. “Lair? Did you just say lair like we’re caped crusaders fighting the villain like in some Marvel movie? You know you’re not actually Batman, right?”

“Shut the hell up,” Dean shot back at Sam. “And that’s the DC universe. God, you’d think for someone who’s a geek, he’d know the difference between the Marvel and DC universes.”

“Universes, really?” Sam asked, knowing he was egging his brother on. But this banter was better than driving in tense silence like they had been for the past hour. 

“You’re just jealous,” Dean huffed out.

“Yeah? Why’s that?” Sam asked. He was curious to find out his brother’s thoughts on this line of conversation.

“Because, I’m Batman and that makes you Robin, the sidekick,” Dean said and chortled at his own words. 

“Yeah, I’m still taller,” Sam quipped back with a dimpled smile. 

Dean, harrumphed in response and then went quiet as he concentrated on the road. 

Sam glanced at his brother and then turned to look out the window as the darkened night sky seemed to go on forever. He hoped this hunt would be quick; they’d be able to get in, kill the Djinn and then get out, without either of them getting hurt for a change. He knew it was wishful thinking. Something always went wrong, no matter the amount of recon they did. One of them, if not both, ended up with bruises or worse. Their bodies were riddled with scars they could never explain to someone not part of their world. Still, they were meticulous in checking the lore books, had to be in order to make sure they had the right weapons and the correct knowledge on what they were dealing with. 

“Nearly there,” Dean muttered, briefly breaking the silence.

Sam’s head snapped up as he looked over at Dean. He saw the warehouse in the distance coming closer as they closed the distance. Dean pulled the Impala off to the side of the road and cut the engine. They would circle around the warehouse on foot as to not give away their presence. From past experience, they knew that the Djinn liked to inhabit ruins, the larger the better giving them ample room to roam.

“Ready?” Sam asked as he pushed his door open.

“Let’s do this,” Dean grunted out as they closed their doors. “You take the front, I’ll take the back. Just make sure there’s nothing lurking around, then I’ll double back and we’ll go in. Don’t go in without me.” Dean started walking away to circle around the building and missed Sam’s snide comment.

“Yes, Mom,” Sam said under his breath as he rolled his eyes at Dean’s retreating figure. His brother could be so infuriating at times, he thought to himself as he withdrew his gun from the back of his waistband. He eyed the front door to the warehouse as he passed by it and noted the light above it was on. Funny, it was supposed to be an abandoned warehouse; one that had no electricity, it was supposed to be in ruins. Maybe, they had it wrong. Maybe it wasn’t abandoned or inhabited by the Djinn. He looked around the area he was standing in and noticed the other buildings were clearly abandoned; windows blown out, debris littering the properties, a rusted out car up on cinder blocks. He turned and looked back at the warehouse he was supposed to be searching the outside of. The windows were all intact and the property was suspiciously free of any trash. Something was off. It made him feel twitchy at the thought that he had missed it the first time around. How had he missed such a glaring juxtaposition in the first place? 

 

The front door was beckoning to him and he found he couldn’t resist. He knew he should. Dean’s words  _ ‘Don’t go in without me’ _ , echoed faintly in the back of his mind. Why shouldn’t he go in? He was just as good a hunter as his older brother. He looked around again only to see that he was alone. He made his way back to the front door and placed his hand on the doorknob and turned it. The door creaked and opened a few inches, only to stop. He placed his shoulder against the door and pushed. With a loud groan, the door gave way against his weight and he stumbled inside. With his gun in his hand, he turned to his left and then his right to survey the large room he had made his way in to. He squinted in the near darkness, trying to see what was around him. The only light, coming from the outside overhead light, didn’t offer much in the way of illumination. He grabbed his flashlight from his back pocket in his left hand and scanned the room with it. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he took a few steps inside, turning left and then right, sweeping the room as he went about. Once the main room was swept through, Sam continued down a narrow hallway to what looked like was at one point a breakroom. The abandoned tables and chairs were overturned, the refrigerator had been knocked onto its side and the cabinet doors hung open. He took a step back as a rat ran across the floor as his flashlight beam traveled over it. Satisfied that there was nothing hiding in the room, he turned and started to move down the hallway again. He stopped and cocked his head thinking he had heard something. Was that a voice? A female voice calling his name?

“Sam . . .” A female voice called out, it was barely a whisper, but he still heard it in the quiet of the warehouse. “Sam,” the female voice called again, sounding closer to him. He turned and backed up, his back slamming against the wall as he saw the figure of a woman standing in front of him. “Hi ya, Sammy,” the woman said and grinned up at him. She placed a hand on his chest and her eyes widened at the touch. “Oh, so muscular,” she said and then clucked her tongue. “Thought you would be, and so tall. You’re the baby brother, right?” she asked as she slid her hand along his jawline. He barely had a moment to register what was happening as the woman’s hand began to glow with a blue light and the black markings of tattoos shifted into view. “I’m gonna love bleeding you dry,” she said with a laugh and watched as Sam’s eyes clouded over with a white film and the black markings from her skin leeched on to his skin like swirling veins. 

As he lost consciousness, he felt his body slide down the wall, his head hit the wall as he ended up on his ass. He vaguely heard the woman’s voice speaking to him. 

 

 

“Sleep tight, Winchester,” she said as she leaned down over him. 

She cackled in glee as she looked down at the comatose form of Sam Winchester, the younger of the two famed hunters. “Thought you’d be tougher to take down,” she said as she gave a little kick to Sam’s shin. “Not so tough after all. Maybe it’s your big brother who’s gonna be the real challenge.” She cocked her head to the side as if waiting to hear what Sam had to say to her. “What, got no response to that? Well, you just dream,” she said as she reached out and ran a hand over Sam’s cheek. If it hadn’t been for the blue light coming from her fingers, it would have looked like a loving caress. It was anything but as she began to drain Sam, infecting him with more of her poison. “I wonder what your deepest desire is,” she said as she began to move away. She had to move fast if she was going to get Sam’s body safely hidden before Dean showed up to try and rescue him. She stepped over his body and grabbed his hands, kicking his discarded gun away. She began to drag his body through the hallway to another room. When she finally managed to get him into the room she had claimed as her own, she bound his hands and feet. Satisfied with her work, she sat down next to Sam and smiled as she began to delve into his subconscious. Aside from bleeding her victim dry, this was something she enjoyed, learning their deepest desires, their fears and needs. So what was Sam Winchester’s?

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************************** 

Sam groaned and stretched as he woke. He pushed his arms up from his sides and felt the muscles working under his skin. He brought both hands to his eyes and rubbed the heels of his hands over them to wipe away the sleep. A yawn escaped his lips and he gave a sigh as he tossed the blankets covering him aside to sit up. He heard a sound and cocked his head to the side. It sounded like scratching, but he couldn’t place it. He looked up at the door in time to see a fur covered wiggling body nosing open the slightly closed door. He scrunched his face up in confusion. A dog? Where the hell had a dog come from? The dog bounded over to him, stopping at his feet and nosed at his thigh. He reached out and scratched behind the dog’s ear. This was so confusing to him. He looked around the room, only to notice it wasn’t a motel room. It was a bedroom in an actual home. Whose bedroom was he in and where the hell were his clothes? He looked down at the dog and then his head snapped up when he heard a woman’s voice calling his name. 

“Sam? You up yet?” The voice was faintly familiar. He cocked his head to the side, trying to place it. He shook his head. “Sam,” the voice called again, only this time the voice was accompanied by a body and a face. He saw the blonde woman standing in the doorway, offering him a cup of coffee. He looked at her, his mouth agape as he realized who she was, his mother. “You want coffee or are you going to take Riley for a run first?” Sam looked at the dog again, Riley and smiled. He had always wanted a dog when he had been a kid. But, because of their life, he had never been able to have one.

“Mom?” he asked, still not believing that this was real. “What’s going on?”

Mary’s brows furrowed at Sam’s question. “You boys must have had a lot more to drink then Dean let on,” she said with a slight frown. 

“Dean’s here?”

“Of course,” Mary stated matter-of-factly. “Where else would he be? He owns the house.” She walked into the bedroom and handed Sam the coffee. “You two must have really gone at it. But, I guess you both needed it since the breakup and all. Dean was always crazy about Lisa. But finding out that she lied about Ben being his . . .” She gave Sam a pained look. “Well, it nearly killed him when he found out. I don’t know why she had to lie about it. Dean loved that boy like he was his own. We all did. But, what’s done is done. Thank you for helping him get through this. He really needed to let off some steam.” She shook her head, turned and walked to the door, ready to leave. “Breakfast will be ready shortly,” she said over her shoulder as she left the room.      

Sam sat staring at her in bewilderment as he sipped the coffee she had handed him. How much had they drunk the night before that he was this brain addled? He scrubbed his free hand down his face and then pushed himself up from the bed. He walked into the en suite, placed the coffee on the counter and started the shower. Maybe the coffee and a hot shower would do wonders to clear his fogged mind. He stripped off his sleep pants, thankful that he hadn’t been in a pair of boxers when he had been talking to his mother, downed the rest of his coffee and pushed aside the shower curtain. He groaned as his body was hit by the hot water. He stood under the shower head letting the water beat down on him. It felt good as the water and heat began to release some of the pressure he felt in his muscles. He opened his eyes and reached for the shampoo. Once washed and shaved, he shut off the water and reached for a towel. He slung it low over his hips as he got out of the shower to finish getting ready for the day. When he was dry, he left the bathroom and stood in the middle of the room, looking around again. This was his room, but why did it feel so foreign to him? Sam’s vision blurred for a moment and he took in a ragged breath as a sharp pain his hit temple. He tried to clear his vision by rubbing his fingers over his eyes. He panted through the pain, hoping it would stop and his vision would clear.

Once his vision cleared and the pain receded, he crossed to the closet and pulled out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and dressed. He quickly shoved his feet into socks and a pair of sneakers. He could hear voices coming from somewhere in the house and Riley barking. He followed the sounds to the kitchen and stopped short at the sight before him. Seated at the table was Dean, their mother and their father. He felt a spike of panic at what he saw. His mind was racing. Something was screaming at him that this was wrong. But, before he could figure out what it was, his attention was drawn to his father.

“Well, don’t just stand there, sit down. Eat something Sammy,” John chuckled out and picked up his fork before tucking into his plate of food. 

Sam sat down and looked at the three faces before him. He looked down as something nudged his chair. Riley had settled himself on the floor next to him and he smiled down at the dog. “It looks good,” he offered as his mother handed him a plate of pancakes. 

“Of course it does,” Dean said between bites. “It’s Mom’s homemade pancakes.”  

He grunted in response as he began to tuck into his plate, savoring the home cooked meal. After finishing, he pushed his plate away from himself and sat back in his chair. “That was great, thanks Mom.”

“Of course,” Mary responded as she began to clear away the plates.

Sam stood and offered his help, only for John to step in. “I got this with your Mom,” John’s gravelly voice sounded next to him. “Why don’t you and Dean go work on that lost cause of a car? I don’t know why he doesn’t just junk it, sell it for scrap metal,” John offered as he carried a few plates to the sink and started washing them.

Sam smiled as he watched Mary walk over to their father and planted a quick kiss on the man’s lips. It was nice to see the love their parents had for each other. He looked back over to Dean who was watching their parents with a pained look on his face. “You alright?” Sam asked hesitantly. He wanted to comfort Dean but he knew not to push the man. He saw the moment that Dean shut down as the fake smile replaced the pained look.

“What? Yeah, I’m fine. I’m great,” Dean said as he rubbed at the back of his head and then stood up. “You coming?” he asked over his shoulder as he walked out the back door to the detached garage next to their home. 

Silently Sam followed the older man out and into the garage. He drew in a sharp breath and then gave out a gasp at the sight before him. In the garage sat their 1967 Chevy Impala in pieces. “Dean, what the hell happened to Baby?” he asked before he could stop and think about what he was saying. He noticed the raised eyebrow that Dean shot him. 

“What do you mean? She’s been a wreck for as long as I can remember. I’ve just never really had the time to work on her. Now that . . . now I have the time,” Dean said with a shrug as he started searching the garage for his tools. 

Sam saw the tension in Dean’s shoulders and knew enough not to push his brother. It would only end badly, most likely coming to blows with the way Dean was acting. “Okay, so where do we start?” 

“The motor,” Dean said matter-of-factly as he popped the hood of the car. 

They worked in silence for over an hour before Sam finally turned to Dean and broke the silence. “Does this feel right to you?” he questioned as he wiped his grease covered hands on a rag. He watched as Dean scrunched his face up in confusion.

“What, the work on the engine? Course it does. We learned this from Bobby working the summers at Singer Salvage,” Dean responded with a chuckle.

Sam shook his head. “No, not this,” he said with a swipe of his hand over the engine that they had been working on. “I mean this,” he said as he swiped a hand over himself and then Dean and then pointed to the house. “All of this. You, me, Mom and Dad. It doesn’t feel right. I mean when did we get a dog? Why are we all living together in a house you own? What do you do for a living? What do I do for a living?” Sam shook his head as if t clear his thoughts. “It’s just none of it seems real or right.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dean shot back at him. “I own the local  . . .”

Sam turned his attention from Dean, a female voice calling his name from the distance having caught his attention. 

“Sammy,” the Djinn called softly. “Sam, everything is the way it’s supposed to be. This is your reality now,” she said as she ran her fingers over Sam’s cheek, pumping more of her poison into him. She watched as Sam stirred, as if he was fighting the effects of the poison and then his body went slack as the poison took a deeper hold on him sending him further into the hallucination. 

***************************************************************************************************************************************************** 

Dean cursed as he circled around to the front of the warehouse. Where the fuck as Sam? He had specifically told Sam  _ not _ to go inside without him. They had no idea if they were truly dealing with a Djinn or how many if they were. So of course Sam had decided to go in on his own. Because why not? Sam could be so impulsive at times, it seemed like Sam did it just to spite him. “Son of a bitch,” he breathed out as he eyed the open front door. That hadn’t been like that when they had first inspected the area before splitting up. Once he dealt with whatever they were hunting, he was going to kicks Sammy’s ass. That, he was sure of. 

He stalked to the door, gun in hand and disappeared into the main room of the warehouse. He looked left and then right, before pulling out his flashlight to make a sweep of the room, searching for his brother. Part of him was relieved not to find his brother’s body laying on the floor. The other part of him was gripped in fear at not finding Sam. That meant that whatever might have Sam, was further inside the building. He began his search for Sam, finding Sam’s discarded gun outside of what looked like it used to be a breakroom. He picked up Sam’s gun and pocketed it before continuing his search. 

He pushed his way into the room to find Sam’s unconscious body on the floor. At least he hoped Sam was unconscious and looked to be infected, if the black veins were any indication of what they were dealing with. A Djinn. He looked around the room, flashing his flashlight back and forth trying to determine if Sam was alive and if they were alone. He breathed a sigh at seeing the soft rise and fall of Sam’s chest. He was alive, and trussed up like a holiday turkey. That he could fix with a slice of his knife. The unconscious part, he knew that was going to take more work. Sam either had to get himself out of the hallucination the Djinn’s poison had helped his mind to create or he was going to have to kill the Djinn and soon. He smiled at that thought, killing the monster that was slowly killing his brother 

“Welcome to the party, Dean,” the Djinn said as she stepped out from behind a filing cabinet. “So glad that you could finally join us. Took you long enough. I was beginning to think that you didn’t really care about your little brother. Not the way I cared about my brother,” she said with a sneer.

Dean raised his gun and flashlight at her, blinding her momentarily as he tried to get to Sam.

She blocked his way and he silently cursed at himself. The silver knife and Lamb’s blood were out in the Impala for safe keeping. A lot of good they were doing him and Sam out there now.

“Gotta say, Sammy here, he’s rather tasty. You think it’s because of all that demon blood he’s consumed? Or did Mommy and Daddy just make him that way?” she taunted.

“Bitch, you are so gonna pay for this,” Dean snarled at her. 

“Really?” she queried as she danced around Sam’s body. “Who’s gonna make me? You? I don’t think so. You know there are only three ways to kill a Djinn and right now, I don’t see a silver knife dipped in Lamb’s blood in your hand or the Colt.” She cocked her head to the side and laughed. “Heard about the little mishap with that gun. Haven’t had a chance to fix it yet, have you? And, I don’t plan on getting too close to let you bash my brains in. So, it seems we’re at a stalemate. Why don’t you just sit back and watch your little brother die,” she offered as she kicked Sam’s shin. 

Dean narrowed his eyes at the Djinn in anger. He needed to find a way to stop the bitch and end her so he could stop the poison running through Sam’s veins. The problem was, he was at a disadvantage and he knew it, they both did. If he turned and left to get the silver knife and Lamb’s blood, she could drain Sam dry or inject enough poison at the moment to instantly kill him. Either way it wouldn’t end well for Sam. Movement from Sam caught both their attentions as Sam’s body began to convulse. 

The Djinn took that moment to rush at Dean, knocking into him and managing to push him aside long enough for her to get out of the confined room they had been in. 

Dean heard the Djinn running down the hallway. His first instinct was to take off after her, but stopped as Sam continued to convulse. He put his back to the wall where the Djinn had emerged from and knelt down next to his brother. “Come on Sam, pull yourself out of this. You can’t die on me, not like this. You hear me Sam?”

***************************************************************************************************************************************************** 

Sam’s vision blurred for a moment and he staggered backward as a sharp pain his hit temple. He tried to clear his vision by shaking his head. Sam turned to look at Dean, he could hear his voice, but couldn’t make out what he was saying. He put his hands to the sides of his head and winced in pain. 

“Sammy, you alright?” Dean asked, his voice laced with concern. “Where’d you go, we were talking and then you just zoned out on me.” 

Sam raise his head to look at Dean and then looked around the room he was in, trying to make sense of everything. “Tell me again, what happened to the Impala?” He demanded. “What do you do for a job? What do I do? Why do we all live together?”

“Sam, you’re not making sense,” Dean breathed out as he looked at his brother with concern. 

“Show me your chest!” Sam spat out.

“What?” Dean asked in disbelief.

“Show me your chest, your left pec. Show me!” Sam roared at Dean.

“What the hell has gotten into you?” Dean yelled back at Sam. 

“Show me, or I’ll make you show me,” Sam said in a low, threatening voice as he advanced on Dean. He pushed Dean against the wrecked body of the Impala using his weight to pin Dean against the door frame as he brought his left arm up to Dean’s throat. He used his right hand to rip at Dean’s shirt, exposing Dean’s unmarked flesh. He stumbled back in shock at seeing Dean’s flesh and pulled at his own collar to expose his skin. “Where are they?” he asked as he finally brought his eyes up to look at Dean.

“Where are what? What the hell are you talking about?” Dean hissed out at him.

“The anti-possession tattoos that we have,” Sam said quietly.

Dean looked at Sam, trying to understand what Sam was going on about. “We’ve never had tattoos. Mom and Dad would kill us if we ever got tattoos. Besides, you’re afraid of needles. Always have been,” Dean countered back.

“Boys, what’s with all the ruckus?” John’s voice called out as he entered the garage.

“I think Sammy’s having some kinda stroke. Keeps asking what he does for a living. Then he ripped my shirt, claiming that we have anti something tattoos.”

“Son, you feeling alright?” John asked as he looked over at Sam. “I’m gonna get your mother.” John start to leave, but was stopped by Sam’s voice.

“No, this isn’t real. Now of this is real. Mom and Dad are dead,” Sam said, as he shook his head in an attempt to clear it. He pushed past Dean and John as they attempted to stop him from leaving the garage. 

“Sam!” John yelled out, trying to get Sam’s attention.

Sam ignored the call from his father - his dead father his brain screamed at him - as he started for the house. He felt a hand on his shoulder, a firm grip pulling him around. He turned to see Dean standing directly behind him. 

“Sam, what are you doing? Why are you wrecking everything? This is what you’ve always wanted; a family, Mom and Dad, the undamaged older brother, the white picket fence with a dog,” Dean said with a pained look. “Stop fighting this.”

“Sam?” Mary called from the backdoor. 

Sam shrugged off Dean’s hand, turned on his heel and stalked toward Mary. He eyed her angrily. “You’re not my mother. My mother is dead. Move,” he growled at her and watched as her eyes widened in fear. Once his mother - dead mother as his brain supplied - moved out of his way, he entered the house. He walked past Riley - the dog he never had - and up to the second floor of the home he had never lived in. He made his way into what was supposedly his bedroom. He scoffed at that notion. His bedroom, the one he had only wished for as a kid. He paced the room, trying to gather his thoughts. 

“Sam!” Dean’s voice called to him. But, this time, Dean’s voice was far off, as if Dean was calling to him from under water. “You gotta fight this. This isn’t real, whatever you’re seeing. It’s a hallucination, from the poison.”

He felt a stab of pain to his right temple. He gasped in pain and nearly fell to his knees. He locked his knees and forced himself to stay upright. He grabbed at his head and tried to breath through the pain. Once Dean’s voice subsided, so did the pain in his head. He breathed a sigh of relief as he focused on what he knew. None of this was real. Before he woke up here, he had been on a hunt. What had they been hunting? The pain started again as he was hit with a throbbing pain behind his right eye. He felt his breath quicken. The pain was a way to stop him from trying to remember, trying to stop him from breaking through whatever the hell this was. 

“Fight the poison, wake yourself up,” Dean’s voice called from far off again.

Poison! They had been after a Djinn. With that realization, he felt the pain burst through his head and he staggered backward, his back colliding with the dresser. That pain cut through the other pain in his head that he was dealing with, giving him a moment of clarity. Dean had been poisoned before. How had he broken the poison’s hold on him? Dean had killed himself in the hallucination he had been in. Sam forced his legs to work as he staggered out of the bedroom. He had to kill himself. Kitchen, knife; the words flashed in his mind. He could cut his own throat or plunge a knife through his heart. But, if he went downstairs to the kitchen his fake family might try to stop him. 

Up, he had to go up. The roof. The pain he was feeling was dizzying, making him feel nauseous, but he pushed past it as he made his way to the attic. He could hear his fake family calling his name. He had to move fast if he was going to do this, he thought to himself as he pulled open the door that led to the attic. He didn’t bother to close the door as he staggered up the stairs, the pain nearly blinding him at times. He forced himself to keep going, to not give in to the temptation to give in to this fake world. It was fake, he knew that, everything was to perfect. It was what he had always secretly dreamed of. He should have known earlier, should have realized that this was what he dreamed about wanting for himself, his family together. 

He made his way to one of the attic winds; the one that led out to the roof. He forced it open and stepped outside. He felt the rush of air hit him as he emerged from the hot attic space. With tentative steps, he made his way to the edge of the roof and peered over it. 

“Oh my god!” Mary gasped out as she looked up at the figure on the roof. She reached out and clutched John’s arm. 

“Sam, what the hell are you doing?” John yelled out as he took in the sight of Sam up on the roof. 

Sam heard the concern and fear in John and Mary’s voices. His chest tightened at it. If only this was real, he reminded himself.

“Sam, come on. Step away from the edge of the roof,” Dean pleaded with Sam.

Sam turned to look into Dean’s green eyes. He gave a sad smile as he did, noting the fear in Dean’s eyes. “If only this was real Dean,” he said with a shake of his head. “But it’s not.”

“No, that’s where you’re wrong. It is real,” Dean said as he took a few steps toward Sam. He reached his arms out, trying to grab at Sam, only to clutch at air as Sam leaned backward, letting himself fall from the roof. “Sam!” Dean screamed as he watched Sam plummet to the ground.

Sam looked up at Dean as he fell, he heard his brother’s voice calling him. He heard the screams coming from his mother and father’s lips. He smiled, if only it was real . . .

 

 

***************************************************************************************************************************************************** 

Sam woke with a start, and scrambled away from the solid body that was next to him. “Dean,” he called out, trying to orient himself with where he was. He looked around the room, waiting for his eyes to adjust the darkness. He jumped when he heard Dean’s voice call his name.

“Sam,” Dean’s voice called to him quietly. 

“Dean, the Djinn . . .” Sam said weakly as he tried to stand, only to pitch forward. He felt Dean’s hands on him, stopping him from falling on his face. Christ, he felt weak and his head was pounding. It felt like a Mariachi band had taken up residence in his skull. 

“Yeah, I know. Hallucinations. They’re a bitch. Only way to stop the poison is to die in the hallucination, unless you kill the Djinn. Come on, let’s get you up,” Dean said as he hauled them both to their feet and helped Sam to stand against the wall, using it for support. He looked at Sam, his anger simmering just under the surface. “What the hell were you thinking? Didn’t I tell you not to go in without me?” he asked as his hand fisted the front of Sam’s shirt. He watched as Sam looked away from him, Sam’s eyes not daring to meet his. He knew it was Sam’s way of showing his shame and he felt his anger and fear dissipate. He pulled Sam in for a hug before letting him go and backing away from him.

“Sorry,” Sam offered weakly as Dean stepped back from him, thankful that Dean wasn’t yelling at him further for his stupidity. Sam rubbed at his wrists, feeling the beginning of bruises and guessed that the Djinn had tied him up when he had been unconscious. He took several deep breaths before speaking. “We gotta kill her. She made me think Mom and Dad were alive. I had to jump off a roof to stop the hallucination,” he said in a ragged voice.

“You good to do this?” Dean asked as he studied his brother. Sam was weak from the poison and being feed off of. “We don’t have time to get to the Impala for the knife and blood. We’re gonna have to bash the bitches head in,” he said and then grinned at Sam. 

Sam didn’t miss the almost gleeful tone in Dean’s voice. Sometimes he worried about how much Dean enjoyed putting down the monsters they hunted. Today, was not one of those days. “Yeah, I’m good,” Sam said. “We gotta find something, a pipe to use against her. There’s a breakroom down. The tables had metal legs,” he offered.

“Let’s go kill that bitch!” Dean growled out. He stalked out f the room, followed closely by Sam, as he made his way down the hallway to the breakroom. They scanned the room, found it was empty and moved to break apart one of the tables for the heavy metal legs. Dean swung one of the legs in the air, making sure it would be useful in their efforts to kill the Djinn. “I’m not gonna hurt ya. I’m just going to bash your brains in,” he said as he turned to smile at Sam. He watched as Sam just raised an eyebrow at him. “Jack Nicholson, The Shining,” he said and got the same reaction. “Really, nothing?” He sighed and walked out of the room in search of the Djinn. 

Sam shrugged his shoulders at Dean’s retreating figure before walking out of the breakroom to follow Dean down the narrow hallway in search of the Djinn. “Did you find out anything about the Djinn while I was out?” Sam questioned in a whisper.

Dean cast a glance at Sam over his shoulder. “Just that this is retribution for killing her brother,” Dean returned in a whisper with a shrug of his shoulders. Did it really matter why the bitch had gone after Sam? To him, no it didn’t. She had just sealed her fate when she had put her hands on his brother, nearly killing him. 

“Huh,” Sam grunted out as he cocked his head to the side, thinking about what Dean had just told him. “She talked like she knew me, like she knew you. I thought it was odd. But, if that’s the case, then it makes sense,” Sam whispered. How many times had they been attacked because of a supernatural creature out for revenge for the death of one of their own? He had lost count over the years. 

Dean stopped walking, only to find Sam hadn’t been paying attention and walked right into him. He hissed at Sam, “Pay attention, Get your head in the game or sit this one out.”

“Yeah, got it,” Sam countered back. The Djinn must have really done a number on him if he was still having a hard time concentrating on what he was doing. He looked over Dean’s shoulder into a room he hadn’t been in yet. It was the last room on that floor of the warehouse which led to the loading docks. He really hoped the Djinn was in that room and not somewhere else above them. 

Slowly, they made their way into the large room. Dean gave him the hand signal for him to go right, indicating that Dean would go left. “Keep your light off,” Dean hissed under his breath at him. Sam shook his head yes in acknowledgement as he disappeared in his appointed direction. As he neared one of the areas he was going to explore, a flash of movement caught his attention. The Djinn lunged at him. He managed to sidestep her attack, swinging the heavy metal table leg at her. The blow connected with her right side, sending her crashing to the floor. “DEAN!” Sam yelled out, calling for his brother’s backup. 

The Djinn looked up at him, an angry snarl on her lips. He saw her hands begin to glow blue and the black markings of her tattoos began to emerge, shifting on her skin as she reached out, trying to poison him again. 

“Sorry, not this time,” Sam said as he raised the metal table leg high above his head. He brought it down, connecting with the Djinn’s head. The blow forced a scream from her lips, one he ignored as he raised the leg again. “This is for making me hallucinate my dead parents,” he said from behind gritted teeth as he raised the leg again, bringing it down with such force that it cracked the Djinn’s skull. The sound was a mixture of breaking bone and a sick squishing. He raised the leg above his head one last time, bringing down and heard another crack as he drove the table leg into her skull, denting her head. He heard the death rattle escape the Djinn’s lips and dropped the table leg, letting it clatter against the concrete flooring of the loading dock.

“Sam!” Dean yelled as he reached his brother. 

Sam turned and looked at Dean. His chest was heaving from the exertion. His nostrils flared as he tried to calm his breathing He knew he was covered in the Djinn’s blood. He wiped at his face, with the sleeve of his shirt, needing to get the blood and sweat off.

“You good?” Dean asked as he looked from his brother to the Djinn’s bloody corpse.

Sam nodded and then flashed Dean a dimpled smile. “Yeah, I’m good.” He turned back to give the Djinn one last look. “Let’s get outta here.” Sam turned to walk back the way they had come, only to be stopped by Dean’s voice.

“Hold up,” Dean said as he knelt down next to the corpse. He looked around and nodded to himself as he looked around the loading dock. He stood, walked over to what had caught his eye, hoping the large bottle wasn’t empty. He picked it up and shook it. “Yes,” he breathed out as he listened to the liquid contents splash against the sides if the plastic container. He trotted back over to the corpse, opened the bottle and poured the contents of the antifreeze over it. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his lighter. Turning slightly, he offered it to Sam. “Wanna do the honors?”

Sam walked back and grabbed the lighter out of Dean’s hand. He flipped it open and in one flick had it ignited. He tossed the lighter at the corpse and then backed away as the flame connected with the antifreeze and the corpse was engulfed in flames. He felt hands on his shoulders, pulling him away from the sight.

“Come on, we gotta get outta here,” Dean said as he pulled Sam along behind him. They quickly made their way out of the warehouse and back to the Impala. Dean waited until Sam was safely seated in the passenger’s seat of the Impala before sliding in behind the wheel of the car and starting up his baby. He put the car into drive and pulled away from the curb, putting the warehouse behind them as he started the drive out of town.

Sam turned in his seat to look out the rear window, watching as the fire he had started began to lick at the interior of the warehouse. He could see the orange flames reflected in the large front window of the warehouse. He sat, watching the fire as the building became smaller as Dean put distance between themselves and their last hunt. He didn’t turn around until the warehouse was out of his sight as Dean turned a corner, putting them on the main highway. 

“You sure you’re okay?” Dean asked quietly. He still remembered the hallucination from when he had been poisoned; how their mother had been alive and he and Sam hadn’t been close, barely speaking to each other. 

“Yeah,” Sam said as he felt a pang of hurt in his chest. He closed his eyes, remembering for a split second what it had been like to have their Mom and Dad alive, they had been a family - if only in the hallucination. It had felt so real and to lose it, cut him to his core. He opened his eyes and gave Dean a tight smile as he settled back into his seat. “Yeah, I will be.”

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Color version of the cover art.


End file.
